


Phantasm

by straylids



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Soulmate AU, ghost au, mentions of drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:14:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26007070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/straylids/pseuds/straylids
Summary: In which you end up getting lost and stranded in the middle of a party when you come face to face with the last person you’d expect.
Relationships: Yang Jeongin | I.N/Reader
Kudos: 14





	Phantasm

**Author's Note:**

> something new i wanted to try huehe lezgeddit

“Y/n, wake up! It’s time for school!” you heard your favourite voice call out to you, shortly followed by something soft hitting your head repeatedly.

“Go away,” you grunt, pushing away the pillow that was prodding you, causing it to fall into the ground with a small ‘thud’. Not even 10 seconds later, the pillow is back to do its duty; making sure you woke up so that you aren’t late for school for the third time that week.

You finally give up, sitting up in bed while glaring at the boy who was sitting at your desk, swiveling around in your chair. “Curse you and your ghost abilities, Yang.”

“Already cursed, m’love. That’s why I’m even here,” was your reply, accompanied by a cheeky smile from the boy in front of you.

Rolling your eyes, you sluggishly slide off your bed, not bothering to wipe the drool off your face or to deal with the bird nest that was sitting on top of your head, earning you a fake gag from the phantom that had been watching your morning routine for the past few months.

“Why can’t you just use your ghost abilities to transport me to school? Just walk through a random wall with me and we’ll be in school in five seconds,” you whined as you sifted through your cupboard for that day’s outfit.

“Only I will be able to walk through the wall, dumbass. You’ll probably bang your head on the wall and lose the only brain cell you have,” your friend retorted, as you flipped him the bird for vocalising the cold, hard truth.

“Even dead, you’re a pain in the ass,” you said, back facing him as you finally picked out an outfit that prevented you from looking like you just walked out of your tombstone. “I bet the big dude up there didn’t want your insufferable attitude with him, hence you walking around earth aimlessly.”

“Shut up and get ready for school.”

Chuckling to yourself, your mind drifted to the first time you met Jeongin. It was one of the strangest days of your life, yet you wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

* * *

The last thing you remembered was you entering some senior’s house, ready to celebrate finals being over as a first-year, and being convinced that having shots would be a good idea, especially when they had found out that you had never drank before owing to the fact that you were not really active in the…. partying scene. You were never one for parties — they were often too loud, and too chaotic — but your best friend, Jisung, who just so happened to be that popular first year, had convinced you that going to this party would be the best decision you would’ve ever made, because according to him, you quote, “Everyone needs to let loose sometimes, Y/n!”

But this decision was backfiring you in ways you hadn’t thought of, owing to the fact that you had drank way past your limit, mostly because you didn’t know what your limit was, having never drank alcohol before — causing you to stumble onto the streets away from the house hoping to get rid of the horrible stench of alcohol and vomit that was circulating in that enclosed space — only to realise that Jisung was unreachable, and that you were not sure how to find your way back to your apartment.

Maybe it was time to take some serious actions and drop Jisung’s ass because you really needed a new best friend. But then again, no matter how insufferable, Jisung was Jisung and you loved him way more than you let him on.

Five minutes of tapping away on your phone’s Google Maps, and you were ready to throw your phone across the street because of how bad the signal was. Seriously, wiping out your money in the name of phone bills every month and not even providing you with a decent signal when you most need it? Not cool, telecomm companies.

With nothing else to do, having given up on trying to find your way back, you decided to take a seat on the hard and cold curb, seeing that it was the only thing left there to provide you with any company, as you made yourself comfortable on the asphalt, feeling strangely calm even though you were completely clueless as to which way was home as the cold air nipped at your exposed skin.

_It must be the alcohol._

To anyone who was walking down the street at this point — not that there were many at that time —it would have seemed as though you were another dumb teenager who had made certain questionable decisions, which had lead you to being stranded on the streets at such a time. So you weren’t really surprised when you heard a voice call you out on exactly that.

“I can’t believe this is the third person this week, tsk. Teenagers these days.”

With the alcohol hazing your mind, your instincts and reaction time were slowed down, making you react slightly late to this stranger’s voice. As your eyes focused on the owner of the voice, you used whatever was left of your observation skills to deduce that said person was a young boy, somewhere around your age, and very, very cute — causing you to hate yourself even more, for seeming like an idiot.

Unable to control your mouth, you spoke up and replied to the boy, the alcohol seemingly bringing out the hidden extrovert in you.

“Hey, this is the first time this has ever happened to me, don’t judge. Besides you don’t look any older than me.”

Not expecting a reply from you, the boy in front of you stood frozen, heartbeat (or lack thereof) picking up speed that a person had replied to him, let alone even seen him. How? It clearly wasn’t possible, owing to the fact that he wasn’t…. well, he wasn’t exactly human.

“Y-you can see me?” the boy in front of you stuttered, snapping out of his shock and raising a finger to point to himself. “And hear me too?”

Welp, maybe you weren’t the only drunk one abandoned on the streets that day. “Yea dude, of course I can see and hear you. Tall, black hair, brown eyes, quite cute. I see it all.”

Maybe you shouldn’t have added the cute part, but seeing the boy’s face flush red somehow made you feel less embarrassed about yourself.

“But how? How can you see me?” the boy continued questioning, still unable to comprehend the fact that after years of walking busy streets and still feeling lonely, all it took was one girl to make his cold body heat up and his dead heart to feel as if it had a sudden jumpstart.

“This is going to sound crazy,” you started — catching the boy’s attention with your dramatic words — “but I have these amazing things called eyes and ears. Oh, would you look at that! You have them too!”

“No, you don’t understand.” the boy cut you off, shaking his head for extra effect. “I am a ghost. I cease to exist, and no one has been able to see me for years. So, how can you see me?”

“Ooookay, you know what? I think it’s time for me to get going,” you said, as you slowly got up from the curb to run the hell away from this clearly drunk and mental boy.

_I stay around him any longer and I will probably drive myself mental too._

“No, wait-”

The boy didn’t get to finish his sentence, as he watched your retreating figure run back in towards the house that still smelled of alcohol, sweat, and vomit.

Shoulders slumping, the boy walked away from the house, mind still whirring with all the possible explanations as to how you could see him. It wasn’t something that happened before, and he knew that he had to get to the bottom of it. Even if it meant that he’d have to use his long-hidden ghost abilities.

* * *

“I still can’t believe you waited till I woke up the next day, just to steal my voice away from me,” you said, recollecting your first sober encounter with your friend, as you walked side by side to the Building of Doom. School was just too boring for your liking.

“Well, if you had just shut up I wouldn’t have had to do it!” Jeongin defended himself, looking at you accusingly.

“Excuse me for being freaked out that a potential mad man was sitting in my chair!” you replied, sarcasm filling your tone as you shoved the boy beside you ever so slightly. “I still can’t understand why I’m the only one who can see and touch you.”

“Beats me too,” your friend sighed, falling into silence as soon as the sensitive topic was brought up. “Still no luck with finding it in the library?”

Since the day Jeongin had explained to you that you were the only one who could see and touch him and that was the reason why he had come after you, you had made it a mission to find out why things played out that way.

What made you so special that you were the only one who could interact with this cute ghost who had been wandering around so aimlessly — any and all hopes of finding peace — lost?

“Nope, not yet,” you spoke up. “But then again, I still have a few more books to go, so don’t lose hope yet.”

“Hmm,” he hummed, the rest of the walk continuing in silence.

* * *

Two coffees later, you’re still on your second book, titled The Supernatural World, trying so hard to find the answer to the riddle you so badly wanted to solve.

Not being able to do anything, Jeongin sat beside you, head rested on his palm as he observed you going through page after page, taking a sip of your now cold coffee every now and then, and your distinct habit of shaking your leg due to the caffeine overload.

“Stop staring at me, idiot, you’re making me lose concentration,” you said, forcing the blush that was threatening to rise to stay down as you will your eyes to stay on the book and not to glance up at the handsome boy sitting across you.

You would definitely be lying if you said that your heart didn’t race every time he looked at you for longer than a second.

But then again, so did his.

None of you wanted to pay heed to the fact that you belonged in two very different and completely opposite worlds. It was like primary school all over again, when all you could think about was your crush on the boy who fended off some bullies for you.

This wasn’t primary school though, where you desperately hid your crushes from one another in fears of being made fun of by other friends. Over the months of growing closer to one another, you both knew that you liked each other, the need for confessions proving useless.

The way your gazes lasted longer than necessary, and the small things you had done for each other was more than enough proof that there was something going on between the both of you, and there was no need to speak of it. Just embracing it was more than enough because, at the end of the day, you both knew that your worlds were too different for anything to happen.

And finally, you got the answer you were looking for, for months. Unconsciously holding your breath, your eyes skimmed over the words on the fourth chapter of the book, your pulse elevating with every word you read.

_“It is not normal for a supernatural being to be left stranded in the mortal world. However, it would not be an uncommon occurrence. More often than not, there will be a single person who can see and touch this supernatural being, with no exceptions. This would then indicate that this person was the soulmate of the supernatural being. When either one of the soulmates remains in the mortal world, the other shall not be able to pass in peace.”_

Your grip on the book tightened, as you re-read the paragraph over and over again, as you try to comprehend what the book was trying to say.

Soulmates? You and Jeongin?

Somehow you didn’t question it.

“Hey, you okay? You look like you’re about to pass out,” Jeongin asked, concern filling him up as he slowly pried the book away from your hands. You didn’t bother stopping him, as you carefully watched his expression while he read the paragraph. And you were not surprised to see the realisation dawn on his face.

Clearly, he didn’t question it as well.

“Soulmates, huh?” he asked quietly, after a long silence, gaze fixated on the table. “Who would’ve thought?”

You let out a light chuckle, heart still pounding against your ribcage as you watched your _soulmate_ lift his head up to look at you, eyes exchanging unspoken words.

Your mind was whirring, different scenarios popping up one after another when your train of thought was cut off by the boy in front of you.

“I’m leaving, Y/n,” he spoke up, face displaying firmness as he delivered his decision. “I’m leaving, and I’m not coming back.”

You felt your heart sink, as you looked at him confused, hurt, trying to decipher his decision. “W-what? What do you mean you’re leaving? Why?”

“Because if I stay here, I will just be holding you back from your own life. You have many years ahead of you, Y/n. I’m not taking that away from you,” he replied, fists curling into balls as he lightly hits the table in frustration.

Anger filled you, as you stood up to match his stance, leaning against the table as you minimised the distance between the two of you. “That’s not your decision to make.”

“Maybe not,” he said, pulling back to restore the distance between the both of you. “But my decision is to leave, and that’s up to me, not you.”

“Don’t you dare break my heart, Yang Jeongin,” you threatened the boy in front of you, tears welling up in your eyes, already knowing that there was no other way.

Being a ghost made Jeongin immortal, and that would mean you spending the majority of your life with a ghost that never grew old, only reuniting the day you cease to exist. Although painful, leaving you was a necessary decision, and Jeongin was more than willing to give that up. Even if it meant spending a good amount of years in solitude.

“I’m sorry,” he said, his own eyes glistening as you slowly started to lose sight of him.

Right before completely disappearing, you heard him whisper something with so much sincerity that you broke down in the middle of the local library, heart shattering into so many pieces you’re not sure you can mend it fully.

“I love you, Y/n, and I will never stop loving you.”

* * *

The beeps from the heart monitor fill your ear, as you lay in the hospital bed, taking in the sight of your children and grandchildren.

“I’m not sure she has much time left,” you hear the doctor telling your family, the sound of sniffling following shortly after. “You might want to start saying your goodbyes now.”

The sight of your family piling into your room warmed your heart, knowing that you were not leaving this world alone.

Many years ago, you never would have thought that you would have moved on, started a family, and have many many grandchildren.

But life was full of surprises.

It took time — to heal your broken heart and move on as if nothing had happened — but all you had to do was convince yourself that this was what he would have wanted for you.

He chose to spend years and years in solitude just so that you could live yours filled with joy and happiness. The most you could do was give him what he wanted; the cute and sassy boy you adored so much that your heart hurt just thinking about him.

Not one day passed where you didn’t think of him; where he was, what he was doing, how he was feeling. But you knew that you weren’t the only one thinking of the other.

As your eyes traveled through the crowd, taking in the faces of your loved ones, one particular face standing right outside your room caught your eye.

Tall, black hair, brown eyes, very cute.

You’d never forget.

“It’s time to go, m’love,” you hear the voice you missed so dearly, surrounding you. “Just close your eyes and go to sleep. I’ll see you very soon.”

And with that promise, you closed your eyes, with a smile on your face, heart racing at the thought of the person you had so eagerly been waiting to see for years.


End file.
